Woman Hears Tape Of Slain Lover's Pleas

MIDDLETOWN — A weeping Gina Coccia listened Monday in Superior Court to the chilling sounds of her lover being stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of the home they shared in Wesleyan Hills in 1993.

After hearing the tape recording, Coccia collapsed into a sea of tears and told Judge Thomas Miano that she needed a break before continuing her testimony.

Assistant State's Attorney Timothy J. Liston called Coccia to the stand to verify that the voices on the tape belonged to one of the two victims, Patricia Lynn Steller, and to the defendant, Janet Griffin, 49, of Vermont.

Griffin is charged with two counts of murder and capital felony in the shooting and stabbing deaths of Steller, 43, and Steller's nephew, Ronald King, 26. A second person, Gordon ``Butch'' Fruean II, 32, of Vermont, is charged with capital felony and two counts of accessory to murder.

Capital felony carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison.

Authorities say the slayings stemmed from a love triangle. Griffin and Coccia were lovers at one time, but Coccia had ended the relationship and become involved with Steller. Coccia moved from Vermont to live with Steller in Middletown in August 1993, only months before the killings.

Testimony is scheduled to start later this week in the trial of Griffin. Before the trial starts, Griffin's attorneys, Public Defenders James McKay and Richard Kelly, are trying to persuade the judge to throw out a key piece of evidence for the prosecution -- the tape recording.

At the time of the killings, a telephone answering machine was accidentally tripped and recorded the sounds of the slayings, including Steller's pleas for help. King, who shared the house with Steller, had been shot and stabbed, authorities say, but his voice was not identified on the tape.

McKay and Kelly object to the recording, contending that it is only a partial tape recording and is largely inaudible.

They argued in a legal motion that it is ``inherently misleading and untrustworthy in that it omits information, which could drastically alter the meaning and interpretation of any information that might be gleaned from the sounds or words recorded.''

Liston is trying to prove that the tape is authentic and that the recording was made at the time of the slayings.

In court Monday, Liston played the tape recording twice, the second time stopping it at intervals so Coccia could identify specific voices.

``No, Janet, no,'' the woman could be heard screaming on the tape, amid the sounds of a dog barking.